Radio Rewrite
Radio Rewrite is a 2012 musical composition by the American composer Steve Reich,[1] inspired by two songs by the British rock band Radiohead: "Jigsaw Falling into Place" and "Everything in Its Right Place". It is the first time that Reich has reworked material from western pop or rock music.
Radio Rewrite has five movements, alternating fast and slow, and is scored for clarinet, flute, two violins, viola, cello, two vibraphones, two pianos and electric bass. It premiered in London in 2013, performed by the London Sinfonietta, to a generally positive reception. Attention focused on the Radiohead material; some reviewers praised how completely the work is integrated, while others questioned how suited it was for Reich. Alarm Will Sound made the first recording of the piece for an album released on Nonesuch Records in 2014.[2]
Composition[edit]
In 2011, Reich was already working on a joint ensemble commission from Alarm Will Sound and London Sinfonietta, which he had originally conceived as "a giant counterpoint piece" for 15 musicians doubled against an equal number of recordings.[9][20] The piece failed to come together, and Reich decided to use material in the two Radiohead songs that he found "exhilarating, energizing" to reinvigorate the project.[9][20] He neither sampled the Radiohead tracks nor wrote variations on them; rather, working entirely from the sheet music, he based his composition on their underlying harmonies and incorporated short fragments of the melody.[7][15][20] He composed the rock-inspired work for an ensemble playing almost entirely classical instruments.[7]
Reich stated that the strongest ties to the original songs are in the first two movements, especially the fast first movement which echoes the harmonic structure of "Jigsaw" and also borrows a brief melodic element. In the slow second movement, Reich deliberately shuffled the chord progression from "Everything in Its Right Place", which he describes as "powerful," in addition to transposing it in key, to avoid drawing too heavily on the song.[20] This section also borrows the tonic–dominant–tonic setting of the word "everything," which is additionally used in the other slow section. In the final three movements, especially the two fast ones, Reich moved further from the source material.[20] Reich completed the piece in August 2012.[7]
Early performances[edit]
Radio Rewrite received its world premiere at the Royal Festival Hall in London, UK on March 5, 2013, performed by the London Sinfonietta, conducted by Brad Lubman.[12][25] Reich manned the mixing desk for the performance.[24] The concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, with each piece introduced by an interview with Reich.[24] Radio Rewrite was subsequently performed by the London Sinfonietta on tour across the UK.[9] The work was commissioned jointly by the London Sinfonietta in the UK and Alarm Will Sound in the US;[7] the US premiere was given by Alarm Will Sound on March 16, 2013, in Palo Alto, California.[26] Alarm Will Sound went on to perform the piece across the United States including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[27] Cleveland State University,[28] and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[29]
Recording[edit]
In 2014, a recording of Radio Rewrite by the ensemble Alarm Will Sound was released by Nonesuch Records. It also features a performance of Electric Counterpoint by Jonny Greenwood and Piano Counterpoint by Vicky Chow.[35]